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I. Background: Cycles of Violence and ImpunityPolitical violence in Kenya, along with excessive use of force by security agencies, neitherbegan nor ended with the 2007-2008 post-election violence. The response has beenconsistent both before and after the elections: impunity, spotted with occasional promisesby the authorities to set up investigative commissions. Such commissions have rarelybeen effective: they fail to publish reports, or produce reports that conceal rather thanreveal, and when they do conduct serious investigations, their recommendations arelargely disregarded.Post-independence Kenya’s reputation across the globe as relatively stable and peacefulis not supported by the country’s political history. The series of political assassinationsthat took place under President Jomo Kenyatta’s post-independence regime, from 1963 to1978, was never seriously investigated. Under Daniel arap Moi, Kenyatta’s successor,hundreds of political opponents were tortured, and despite several court decisionsawarding victims compensation, no one was prosecuted for the abuses. 1 Moi’s regime wasalso known for excessive use of force by the state security apparatus. It committed abusesthat may amount to crimes against humanity, as in the case of the 1985 Wagalla Massacre,in which hundreds if not thousands of ethnic Somalis were killed during an operation toseize weapons. 2After Moi agreed under diplomatic pressure to hold multi-party elections in 1992,organized groups affiliated with Moi’s party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU),incited violence against members of the Kikuyu ethnic group in the Rift Valley, whereKikuyus were suspected of supporting the nascent opposition. KANU supporters ralliedKalenjin residents 3 around the idea that Kikuyus were “non-indigenous” and hadappropriated Kalenjin land. 4 They attacked Kikuyus before the elections, to push them outand ensure the maximum number of Moi votes, and after the elections, to solidify claims1 Some victims have been compensated, but only after being “forced … to engage in further court and protracted politicalaction to have the monies released.” Kenya Human Rights Commission, “Surviving After Torture: A Case Digest on theStruggle for Justice by Torture Survivors in Kenya,” 2009, pp. 42, 85-86.2 Billow Kerrow, “The Wagalla Massacre Was a Crime Against Humanity,” Daily Nation (Nairobi), February 9, 2010,http://allafrica.com/stories/201002091141.html (accessed July 19, 2011); “Kenya: Wagalla massacre survivors testify,” April18, 2011, BBC News Online, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13123813 (accessed November 1, 2011).3 The term “Kalenjin” is a colonial-era construction grouping together at least 10 distinct Nilotic ethnic groups that sharelinguistic and cultural traditions. The largest among them are the Kipsigis and the Nandi.4 Land conflict in the Rift Valley has roots in the colonial area, when British settlers expropriated land from Kalenjins. Afterindependence, President Kenyatta’s regime facilitated the transfer of some of this land to Kikuyus.“TURNING PEBBLES” 10